PREMIER DIVISION
PONTLOTTYN ............... 5 PENCOED ATHLETIC ... 1
PONTLOTTYN once had Blast Furnace tagged on to their name, and Pencoed Athletic experienced meltdown on a visit last Saturday, writes Tony Poole.
While Blast Furnace was removed during the Seventies, remnants remained against malfunctioning Pencoed.
But a fifth game in the space of nine hectic days for Mark Powell and his merry men eventually produced a reaction.
Tired limbs were on view, and the only ray of sunshine is the imminent return of nimble Brimble from Brazilian nuptials.
But the Felindre Road boys missed Italian goalkeeper Ricardo Burton, and colourful Sam Brown in the Rhymney Valley.
However, there was more resting on the game for the Furnace men, as they are battling to remain in the Premier Division.
That said Pencoed were unbeaten in nine league matches, and South Wales bookies had them down as clear favourites.
It was 2-0 at the turnaround, but a ninth goal of the season from Marc Turner then threw Pencoed a lifeline ahead of extravagant finishing ruling out an equaliser.
This misses proved vital and once Pontlottyn made it 3-1, there was only going to be one winner
Next up for Pencoed is a trip to the Welsh capital tonight (Wednesday) to face Canton Liberal Club while Brecon Corries visit Felindre Road this Saturday.
Turning to Pencoed Reserves, they gained a 5-4 victory on penalties over their Maesteg Park counterparts in the Bridgend League Division One Court Coleman Cup at Tudor Park.
Pencoed led 3-1 through goals from Mattie Bowen (two) and top dog Mattie Roberts, but 10-man Park battled back to 3-3.
That took the issue into a penalty shout with the winning Pencoed pot coming from prize potter Rhys Andrew Goss.
In the semi-finals, Pencoed face FC Maesteg at South Parade on Saturday while Caerau host new league champions Cefn Cribwr. kling Stars an early doors lead.
It took time for the Cabo Roche aristocrats to settle, but once they did Ryan Jenkins engineered a fourth goal of the season for Alex Gregory.
A defensive blunder in the approach to half time then played into the hands of Vale with Jack Dummett making it 2-1.
But before half-time oranges were sucked, Lewis Richards had a shot cleared off the goal-line while top scorer Dummett rattled the woodwork.
It remained that way until the 70th minute when Lewis Richards was taken out in the box, and the referee pointed to the spot.
Dummett took responsibility, converting the penalty in fine style, to move on to the 22-goal mark for the season.
Given they have so many matches left to play, Vale are without a midweek fixture, and next up is a swift Corntown rematch on Saturday with Carnetown.
Earlier in the month, it was 2-2 in Carnetown in the reverse league fixture with Vale leaking a lastgasp equaliser.